The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Oritz Concedes TX-27 to Farenthold; GOP Reaches Historic 241 Seats in House

Posted on | November 22, 2010 | 25 Comments

Most House seats held by the Republicans since 1949:

U.S. Rep. Solomon P. Ortiz conceded late Monday to Congressman-elect Blake Farenthold.
Noting that the recount of more than 106,000 votes had been completed in the district, Ortiz said: “Therefore, with great respect and admiration in the Democratic process, I congratulate my opponent, Mr. R. Blake Farenthold, in his election to the 27th Congressional District of Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives.” . . .
During the recounts, Farenthold, the Republican challenger, continued his lead over Ortiz by nearly 800 votes.
For his part, Farenthold said that, “it’s a great relief to have the uncertainty gone.”
Farenthold also told The Brownsville Herald that he is “very happy” and that Ortiz had been “very gracious.”

Politico writes: “Republicans have now won at least 62 House seats. The GOP leads in one of four unresolved races.” Meanwhile, in NY-25, where Republican Ann Marie Buerkle leads by 567 votes after the absentees were counted, the chairman of the Onondaga County GOP called on Democrat incumbent Rep. Dan Maffei to concede:

“It’s over. Dan Maffei has no chance to win the 25th congressional seat and it’s time for him to stop wasting taxpayer dollars and do the honorable thing and right thing for the residents of the 25th District and concede.”

A court hearing originally scheduled for Tuesday on Maffei’s request for a hand recount has been postponed to Wednesday. Over on Long Island, meanwhile, the count in NY-1 continues seesawing back and forth, as Jim Geraghty points out, linking our friends at Left Coast Rebel. The latest count seems to have Democrat Rep. Tim Bishop leading GOP challenger Randy Altschuler by about 200 votes and, pending “challenged” ballots, that one might not be decided until after Thanksgiving.

So the GOP has scored a net gain of at least 62 seats and possibly as many as 64. Yet with the Republican victory in TX-27, Republicans have now crossed the threshold to 241 House seats — the most they’ve held in more than 60 years.

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers!

UPDATE II: Welcome, Gateway Pundit readers! Up near Syracuse, N.Y., the Lonely Conservative is angry:

Rep. Dan Maffei (D) continues to deny the obvious. I suppose he’s thinking that perhaps a few voting machines or bags of ballots will magically appear so he can continue with his Keynesian fantasy. . . . No matter how you slice it, Ann Marie Buerkle has won the election. Yet Dan Maffei still refuses to concede.

Dan’s clinging. Bitterly.

UPDATE III: Guy Benson at Townhall has been riding the NY-1 roller coaster. If Altschuler wins there — and if Maffei ever concedes — Republicans will have gained an impressive seven House seats in New York alone. Not like there’s any kind of “mandate” there or anything.

UPDATE IV: One of the most-overlooked results of the national GOP landslide was that the state legislature in Alabama, which had been controlled by Democrats since . . . . well, since forever, was swept by Republicans. And now four Democrat incumbents who managed to get re-elected Nov. 2 have switched parties to join the GOP majority.

Category: Ann Marie Buerkle, Congress, Election, New York, Texas

Comments

Comments are closed.